Reproducible X-ray Imaging with a Perovskite Nanocrystal Scintillator Embedded in a Transparent Amorphous Network Structure.

Abstract

Metal halide perovskites are emerging scintillator materials in X-ray detection and imaging. However, the vulnerable structure of perovskites triggers unreliable performance when they are utilized in X-ray detectors under cumulative dose irradiation. Herein, a self-limited growth strategy is proposed to construct CsPbBr₃ nanocrystals that are embedded in a transparent amorphous network structure, featuring X-imaging with excellent resolution (≈16.8 lp mm^-1 ), and fast decay time (τ = 27 ns). Interestingly, it is found that the performance degradation of the scintillator, caused by the damage from high-dose X-ray irradiation, can be fully recovered after a facile thermal treatment process. This indicates a superior recycling behavior of the explored perovskites scintillator for practical applications. The recoverability of the as-explored scintillator is attributed to the low atom-migration rate in the amorphous network with high-viscosity (1 × 10¹⁴  cP). This result highlights the practical settlement of the promising perovskites for long-term, cost-effective scintillator devices.